Work Day 4 and 5
We started off the day once again at 6:30 am. We had breakfast and headed back to the work site for our second to last day. Our group continued to work on the wall of bricks for both the preschool and the kitchen. We have all had the chance to place bricks and cement on the walls and we were getting pretty good at it. Our group was able to finish a whole row of bricks in 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes which is what we started at. At the work site we had BBQ chorizo for lunch. It was really tasty and delicious. After lunch we went back to work on the bricks because we were determined to finish the walls of the kitchen. Once we accomplished this task, we packed up and headed to a coffee shop in Matagalpa where everyone ordered all kinds of flavors of frappucinos. These frappucinos were better than that of Starbucks. We got flavors like peanut butter, chocolate, cookie, and caramel. After that we headed back to the hostel after a long day of work. We had pasta for dinner which was so good and gave us some energy back. We had a small discussion about the question “What did you see on the way to the worksite that was different that you would see when you normally walk to school.” There was a lot of good answers like a beautiful scenery, cows, aluminum houses, fruit trees, etc. After this it was around 9 pm and everyone was out of energy and tired so we all went to sleep.
The last day of work was filled with both sadness and happiness. We were sad to leave the community members and the little kids because they were so full of happiness and willing to help out in any way possible. It was happy because it was rewarding to see the walls of the preschool, kitchen, and library built by our amazing and talented group of students. After working in the morning we had a good bye cultural exchange activity where some girls from the school performed a traditional Nicaraguan dance with beautiful dresses. Our group performed the hokey pokey and the chicken dance with all the kids and the community members loved it. At the end of the ceremony, the Nicaraguan students sang the Nicaraguan national anthem. We said our good byes to the community members and the preschool children and left the village. We headed back to the coffee place that we went to yesterday because it was a good way to relax. After the coffee we went back to the hostel and rested until dinner. For dinner, we had lemon chicken with potatoes which was really tasty. After this long day, our group was tired and we headed to bed. It had been a great week working at the community and meeting new people. Although many of us could not speak Spanish, we were still able to have a good time and somewhat communicate with the Nicaraguan people.
Nathan Nusaputra